Upside Down(67)

“And one thing led to another,” I prompted.

“And it led to another, and another.” He let out a long sigh and slid my phone back across the table. “It was never supposed to be permanent. But he was so much fun, and he’s great in bed, like wow, and he’s… he’s… addictive. But he’s also genuine, and he’s kind, and he’s considerate—”

“And he’s Jordan’s best friend.”

Michael nodded. “I know. Well, I know now. He’s only ever called him Jay, not Jordan. But yeah…” He shook his head and let out a long breath. “Angus is… I love him. And Vee loves him, and we love him together. And I know that’s weird, and it’s not conventional, but bringing him into our marriage doesn’t detract from anything. It makes it better. It’s another dimension and another layer. I don’t expect you or anyone to understand, but you don’t have to. We don’t need permission and I won’t defend how I feel about him. I—”

I put my hand up to stop him or surrender, or both. “I would never ask you to. If you’ve brought a third person into your bed, then I’m glad it’s him. Angus is a great guy. How can anyone not like him?”

Michael’s grin was instantaneous. “I know, right?” He swallowed hard. “So? We’re cool?”

“Of course we are.”

“And dinner this weekend?”

“Looking forward to it. Jordan is already having a nervous breakdown,” I said with a laugh. “But he’ll be fine.”

“And things with you and him are all sorted?”

I nodded. “Yep. We’re good.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve never you seen this happy.”

“Thanks.”

“And something to make you even happier, we’re signing off on Rob this week.”

“And I cannot fucking wait.”

“You’ve been the utmost professional.” He smirked. “Not that I expected anything else.”

I snorted. “Thanks.”

“And we’ve got two smaller contracts for immediate start,” he said. “So, if you want, I’ll do the handover with Rob so you don’t have to see him. I’ll be sure to remind him that you’ve moved on to bigger and better things.”

“Deal.”

“Oh, and Vee said you don’t need to bring anything this weekend. Just this new man of yours. We’ll take care of everything else.”





“Are you sure we don’t need to bring anything?” Jordan asked when he came out wearing the first outfit he’d had on. It was dark jeans and a blue-grey sweater that matched his eyes perfectly. “Not even wine or flowers, or chocolates, or something?”

“No, nothing.” I looked him up and down. “You look great, by the way.”

There was a knock at the door. “That will be Merry,” Jordan said.

I got up to get the door while Jordan put on his shoes. “Hey,” Merry said brightly when she saw it was me. “Oh, don’t you look dashing.”

“He always looks great,” Jordan mumbled from the living room. “And I look like a potato. They’re going to think Hennessy is dating a potato. They’ll probably stage an intervention—”

“Jordan, shut the fuck up,” Merry said, still smiling. “Or you’ll be a late potato.”

“Oh God, what’s the time?” he said, appearing somewhat panicked.

“We have plenty of time,” I said to him. “And you look great.”

Merry appraised him. “You actually do.”

He looked down at himself. “Do I actually look like a potato?”

Merry rolled her eyes and ignored him. “You look great too,” I told her. “Love the dress.” It was purple, and her yellow cardigan and orange shoes somehow kind of all worked.

“Thanks!” She said, shoving her hands into the pockets. “It has pockets!”

“Okay, let’s go,” Jordan said, patting down his pockets, double checking for the fifth time that he had his wallet, phone, and keys. “We ready?”

I nodded and held out my hand for him to hold. “Relax. They’ll love you.”

“How do you know that? You can’t know that. You just wait until I open my mouth and word-vomit all over everyone. It’ll be a disaster.”

“They’ll love you.” I kissed him. “Because I do. Now come on or they’ll wonder where we are.”

And the funny thing about Jordan was that he definitely had two varying degrees of nervousness. There was the ordinary kind of nervous where incessant rambling ensued, and then there was the petrified, holy-shit kind of nervous where he went unusually silent.

He’d stopped talking when we got close, barely made a sound when we got out of the cab, and as we rode the elevator up to their floor, his lips were pressed into a thin, very-shut line.

“You okay?” I asked, pulling on his hand.

He nodded, then shook his head, then nodded. Then the elevator pinged and the doors opened and he shook his head. “Nope. Not okay.”

We stopped just outside Michael and Veronica’s door, and I cupped Jordan’s face and kissed him softly. “They will love you because you’re an amazing guy. Because I love you, because Angus loves you. You have nothing to worry about, okay?”